Kolkata: The highly anticipated ‘Diego vs Dada’ match will be played at the Aditya Academy Secendory School, Barasat on Tuesday, where the people of Kolkata will have a chance of a life time to see legendary Argentine footballer Diego Maradona playing against former Indian cricket team captain and Kolkata’s very own Sourav Ganguly. The match also has a tagline “Dhulaiwala Match for Unity” which will be played to help those who are suffering from cancer. Earlier it was decided that the match would be played on October 2, but due to his busy schedule Maradona rescheduled his arrival for a few times and ultimately the high voltage match will be play tomorrow.
It will be a forty minutes game which would be divided into two halves. Last time when Maradona visited the City of Joy back in 2008, Sourav didn’t have the opportunity to meet the football legend, but this time he would not only meet him, but also will face him in a match. A lot of sportsmen as well as celebrities will take part in this match tomorrow. Beside Ganguly, current Bengal cricket team captain Manoj Tiwary, former pacer Shib Shankar Paul and few other former cricketers too will take part in this game.
Among the footballers legends like Alok Mukherjee, Shyam Thapa, Biswajit Bhattacharya, Sisir Ghosh, former Indian captain and Arjuna Awardee Prasun Banerjee, former East Bengal footballer Alvito d’Cunha, Avijit Mondal, Dipendu Biswas will be a part of this grand occasion.
Biswajit Bhattacharya looked really happy after getting the opportunity of playing beside Maradona,” It’s not only about playing the match, it would be a lifetime opportunity for us to stand behind him and spend time with a legend like him,” said Bhattacharya.
On being asked about the game, Shyam Thapa said,” I would only ask Maradona what was his feeling after scoring a brilliant goal in 1986 where he dogged almost 5 or 6 defenders with so much of ease.”
Legendary footballer Alok Mukherjee said,” Everyone knows Maradona is a living legend. But beside that he had a lot of controversies too in his career. We all know that a controversy can destroy any sport person’s career at any moment, but he is that kind of a footballer who can force you to forget all the controversies with his football skills and it would be a lifetime opportunity for me to play beside him.”
On the other hand Mohun Bagan’s star Haitian winger Sony Norde will not take part in this game as the I-League is already in progress. Beside that Bollywood heatthrob Dev and MLA Sujit Bose too will take part in this game.